A fine looking Basenji!
Herding sheep?
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Oh, what fun! I took my boyz years ago, they loved it. Wish it had been closer as I would have liked to go more than that one time. Of course Digital the brindlewonderkid thought the objective was to grab the sheep by the tail. Now all they get to herd are the goats on the other side of the fence. I'd love to see what Zest could do with sheep.
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Dolce had a great time. Although it looks like she was following me, she was really eyeballing the sheep. She stopped to smell the sheep and the wool on the ground and certainly knew there were more sheep behind the wall. What fun she had.
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My Basenji herds me! Nips at the back of my ankles as I walk across the house. It would be interesting to see what Buddy would do with sheep.
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My Basenji herds me! Nips at the back of my ankles as I walk across the house. It would be interesting to see what Buddy would do with sheep.
I'm glad I'm not the only one.
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Along time ago I took a couple of my dogs to a herding instinct test put on by a Bouvier club. Giza, the Basenji, was very excited when she saw those sheep enter the arena… then she had to watch as the other dogs took their turns. When it was her turn, she walked over to the sheep, and the look on her face said, "You got me out of bed at 6:00 on a miserable, wet morning, put me in a dirty horse arena with a bunch of stinkin' sheep and you want me to what, herd them? Forget it" And then she turned around, kicked dirt in their faces, and left the arena. She didn't pass.
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Cricket has been inducted into the farm dog posse when we visit the farm. She is allowed to patrol the fence line for coyotes. As for herding… The two guarding dogs thinks she's a lamb and won't let her leave.
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When we were without a sheep dog I used two of my Basenjis to help with the rounding up. They used to help regularly and we debated whether to get another sheep dog at all. We finally decided that a sheep dog would be much more able to concentrate - Basenjis would eventually get bored.
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I found that a Basenji does a good job at rounding up, or collecting the sheep, as long as they are moving rather fast. Once the sheep are a bit more used to the dog, and don't react that quickly anymore, the basenji looses interest in them. That's how it worked out with my basenji and I've heard simular story's from others, regarding chickens and such. It's fun as long as it's moving fast, but slow moving stock is dull…
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When the sheep started to slow down when we were herding with Basenjis they would go to more efforts to get them going again but the boredom came from repeating the same old thing every day.
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Robyn, Great video and what fun. Do you plan to keep going?
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That was just a one time thing for sure. The herding ring and the sheep were corralled next to the lure coursing field. Dolce saw the sheep and had such interest in them. When the bunny was running, she wanted to chase it. When the bunny stopped, she tried to get over to the sheep, but only until the bunny started again. I decided to take her in the herding ring so she could get close to the sheep. She did a great job for a Basenji. The other B's just sniffed the ground and showed no interest.
I'm actually thinking about starting her in agility. I expect she'll really enjoy the agility activities. During advanced obedience class we did some agility. I bought a small child's tunnel and hula hoop at the target for the backyard. Then I used some sticks to make weave polls. She enjoyed all of it.
